1996-07_05 Vipassana Retreat, Part 5 of 8 - Q&A 12

Talk: 19960705-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-vipassana_retreat_part_5_of_8-43309 Start_time: 01:23:34 Display_question: Was an experience of tending to my pained ears at a concert mindfulness? Keyword_search: experience, mindfulness, concert, music, silence, enjoy, applause, defeaning, headache, migraine, loud, louder, intensity, awareness, ears, inner ear, sensation, inquire, clap, sound, arrow, Buddha, reactive, reaction, mind, attention, hate, violent, averse, problem Question_content: Questioner: I had an experience with mindfulness at the concert last night. I was listening to music which was fun. This is in silence. You know, I'm getting down. But it was okay because I allowed myself to enjoy the music. But when applause came on, it was very appreciative of applause. And it was deafening. I mean, it was a little louder than normal, but this time it was deafening. And the intensity, the awareness of the loudness of it was so much for me that I was not able to afford, I had to hold my ears. So I did that a couple of times. And then I said, “Well, let me see what I can do with this because I don't want to leave the concert.” So the next time this applause came up, I attended to my ears and allowed my ears to take it in but not really being upset with it. And somehow… Larry: I'm sorry to interrupt, but how do you do that? How do you not allow them to be upset? Is there control there? Questioner: Yes. My ears shut off. I felt a physical sensation of my ear, the inner ear just kind of folding in. I don’t know if that was real or not, but it softened the applause. Larry: Okay. Questioner: I don’t know if that was mindfulness… Larry: No, I don't know either. Let's inquire into it, because I'm not totally sure. First of all, the problem isn't the ears, in the ears. You've heard loud applause in your life, haven't you? Yeah, it's in the mind. Okay. So, you do become more sensitive if you've been quiet all day. So that now, when you hear it, it certainly might feel just the way you describe it. I'm not denying that. But there are a couple of things. One thing that, I'm not sure you're saying this, but if not, you're pretty close to it, it seems. Break_line: If you really pay attention to the raw sound of clapping, just the way we've been listening when we were sitting, to chirp chirp, to be 100% like clapping mind. I mean, you're just really listening. Not the word CLA, but the sound, the pure sound of clapping. If you're very, very attentive to the sound, then there's no room for the mind to start thinking and making up what's going on, particularly to express, “This is too loud. I hate this.” Because the momentum of the thinking mind is stopped by the full attention to the sound. You're not being violent or negating anything. It’s just, the attention is so total that there isn't, in a sense, a break, an opening for thought to come pouring in and tell you what's happening. Questioner: I should mention there was an element of a lot of change in my neck and buildup in my head. I was getting a headache, or I thought it was going to be a migraine, it was so serious. And then the applause, on top of that… Larry: Okay. But here's one lesson that you may be able to learn from events like this. There are two arrows. You remember the example I use of the Buddha's two arrows? The first arrow that hits you is the loudness of the sound. The second arrow is the mind's reactivity. It doesn't like it. It's averse to it. It winces—whatever language is appropriate. If you can slip in under that and feel how much you don't like it, then you're beginning to learn how to pull the second arrow out. It's still loud, but it's not a problem or it's not so much of a problem. Do you see what I'm getting at? Yeah, please. End_time: 01:27:21